Roman Gladiator Research Paper

Of the many monumental constructions that the Romans built, one of the most well known is the Coliseum, where brave Gladiators would fight dangerous animals and even each other to entertain the people of Rome. When people see the great arena, it is easy for them to forget the countless men, women, and animals that died fighting each other for amusement. Most people don’t know what it took for them to fight and either win or die, or how many hours they must have spent training to have a chance at defeating their opponents. Who were these gladiators?

Gladiators were a huge part of the Roman society and a large part of Roman culture. The people of Rome loved gladiator battles. The Roman coliseum was built in order to fit the standards of a bloody, brutal battle while also being able to keep thousands of Roman citizens comfortable and entertained.

Throughout the film, gladiatorial games are shown to be one of the most important parts of the Roman society. Gladiatorial games and fights followed a strict procedure and ceremony. They arrived at the Colosseum through an underground tunnel. From there, they were able to access to the arena through a pair of gates reserved to them only. Additionally, the gladiators often marched in groups, with their distinctive uniform and equipment. This is displayed accurately when Maximus enters the arena through a pair of gates and works with a team of other gladiators with similar outfits. However, they did not wear fantasy helmets and bands wrapped around the lower arms and their armors are not always closely historically accurate. Moreover, Roman people loved to watch people battle to death and bloodthirsty violence as a form of entertainment. Spectators in the film cheered and chanted wildly in the Colosseum when their favorite, Maximus was battling with

The gladiator fights didn’t start off with two men fighting in an arena surrounded by people it actually originated as mandatory offerings or munera owed to important men at their funerals. Munera or duty was another name for gladiator fights because it was look at as more of a duties paid to dead ancestors. The men that were being honored had generally been public figures and the munera were intended to show their prestige and of that to their family to the people of Rome. Many historians believe that the games may have come from the Etruscans who were people that occupied ancient Italy. Paintings from tombs of Estruscan show their custom of celebrating the dead with funeral games which seemed to consist of different types of contest including combat. Others have suspected the gladiatorial games have been influenced from the area of Campania where Rome had fought three wars resulting in the exchange of customs. The original purpose of these combats that took place at funerals may be looked at as human sacrifice which meant that the blood spilled by these fighters benefited the spirit of the deceased. It wasn’t

Spartacus, translating to “from the city of Sparta” in Latin, was a Roman gladiator who began as a “Thracian, born among pastoral nomadic people” according to Plutarch. This northern area of Greece that holds the title of Spartacus’ birth place was believed to be one of Rome’s earliest enemies. Historians suspect his birthdate to be around that of 109BC and know his date of death to be 71BC. This gives him a lifespan of around 37 years. Minimal information is documented prior to his rise to fame. One of the first pieces discovered about Spartacus timeline was in 78BC when he was incarcerated and forced to train as a gladiator. This enslavement was most likely due to either deserting his cause or committing a crime and sold as a slave as a form of punishment, although often the accusations that put people into slavery were unfair and biased due to aspects such as race and gender. Because of

The Roman gladiator games were contests between a man and an animals before spectators and it was literally a fight for one's life, but not always. The Gladiator games are one of the most common and most popular information most people know about Ancient Rome. Romans let the animals starve to make them angry so they would fight better against the humans. The Roman Gladiators were usually men, although women fought too, it wasn't as common. They were often slaves, criminals, or prisoners of war.

Spartacus led one of the most successful rebellions in history. He was born in 109 BC. His death was because he died on the battlefield near Petelia, Italy in 71 BC. A gladiator was his normal occupation. But he wasn’t Roman at all, Spartacus was Thracian! When he was young, he decided to join the Roman army. However, when he tried to leave, he was caught and sold into slavery. Against his will, he became a gladiator. A gladiator is a person who fights animals or other gladiators in a battlefield.

The gods wanted justice, so they found entertainment and fulfillment in killing criminals and slaves. These three parts of gladiator fights played a large role in gladiator fights, as criminals and slaves fought to their death in ancient Rome's theaters. Gladiatorial combat was a huge source of entertainment in ancient Rome. In fact, it was the most popular

These individuals would be forced to fight, sometimes till their death as a punishment. This fighting was a primary form of entertainment for the Roman society. Rarely gladiators would be free men who would volunteer to take on the status of a slave to reap the benefits of fame, excitement and

Most of the time gladiators fought in arenas but sometimes the ruler forced others to fight. Gladiators had the opportunity to regain their freedom but it was nearly impossible. For a gladiator to gain back their freedom, they had to survive 5 years of fighting (5 to 10 fights in total) when only a few made it out of one fight alive. If a gladiator won, along with their freedom, they would get laurels, money, donations from the crowd and a rudis which was a wooden sword which allowed you to become a gladiator trainer. The gladiator’s fights were roman

When speaking of Roman gladiators, many people tend to have misconceptions of who they really were and their status in society. A vast amount of people are lead to believe that all gladiators were slaves and lived under harsh conditions. Even though most gladiators were slaves and prisoners of war, a lot of them were low class men who wanted to attain glory and fame, others were

Gladiators fighting. King Watching safely above. Slaves would be servants, in labor, and gladiators. Masters control the slaves, and tell them what to do. Kings would force slaves to go into the arena and fight. If the crowd doesn’t have a good applause, the gladiators will be killed. Not everybody in Rome was treated fairly because of slaves, plebeians, and women.

Who ever thought what it was like to fight in the bloodiest battle ever that was not in a war? That is what a Roman Gladiators life was like. A Roman gladiator's life was brutally hard, but nice at the same time. Roman gladiator's were a big part of life in Ancient Rome. Fights were usually held at the Colosseum, which was a big stadium and a landmark of Rome. Gladiator battles were bloody, and very gruesome. A Roman gladiator's life was lavish, popular, and dangerous

A Gladiator’s (“most gladiators were slaves in bondage”) life outside of their combat/killing in the coliseum is very interesting (Coleman, Kathleen). Most people don’t know about the things that gladiators had to do or went through outside of the coliseum. “Gladiators were trained in special schools that were originally owned by private citizens,

Introduced in around 250BC, gladiators were well-trained individuals who fought against each other to entertain the civilians of Rome. The gladiators fought in the Colosseum, which had a height of about 160 feet and capacity of up to 50,000 people. The Colosseum was also designed to be able to flood and hold ships. The term gladiator comes from the Latin word: "gladius" meaning sword. The profession of being a fighter brought great fame to the individual. The theme of death brought people together to see many young men die in battle. The crowd loved vicious shows that were gory and gruesome. Many gladiators who fought in the Colosseum went on to become tremendous war heroes, due to the intense training provided by the emperor. Gladiators always wore clothing that resembled other nations that the Roman army seized. They were also given unorthodox weapons to fight with and their battles usually illustrated famous ones fought by the Roman army. Sometimes, the ‘damnati ad mortem’, individuals who committed ruthless crimes, went into the arena without a weapon. Gladiators were mostly captives of war or slaves of the rich. Some people saw the fighting as a hobby and spent much time and money picking and choosing from the best of the gladiators. A fanatic of fighting was called a "lanista", or an owner of gladiators. Keeping these gladiators in good health became very expensive over time. Different gladiators were allowed to use different weapons based on their past life. For